I don't think racism comes into play here, guys — he's not talking about it in terms of a specific race of people having made a product, he's talking in terms of nationalistic pride. it's kinda like the move for people to 'buy American' or 'buy local' here in the US that's been going on for decades now, and I wouldn't doubt that there are similar social drives in other countries as well for their inhabitants to buy locally-made items in stores over foreign-made competing items. Some people prefer their cars to come from American companies for whatever reason and we don't go labeling them racist here in America, do we?

@ThatOneBlackGuy: yeah, this particular instance is pretty questionable given the game involved and what it features other than the name of a silly trophy, but are you really trying to say that if one person in a given group is okay with a certain term used to describe themselves, all people in the same group should be okay with it no matter what? :/

@everyone: I understand that this is a touchy subject, but please, can we treat it with some respect for people who would indeed have had a problem with the trophy as it was originally titled? Going out of your way to be nasty to people in your comments here regarding race, gender, sexual orientation, handicap, etc. and so forth is against our Community Rules and will not be tolerated.

@PSOneSON: Considering you keep signing up for accounts, posting a few times, then changing your username to some permutation of 'delete this' and creating yet another account to post under, I'm sure we'll see you around. :3

Hey guys, you can turn off a computer and you have the freedom to choose what console(s) you'd like to play, but you can't turn off IRL and you can't change the color of your skin without expensive treatments and/or major surgery. fanboys hating on other consoles has absolutely nothing on the systematic oppression of people in countries around the world, and comparing fits of bluster and unfounded rage to cross-burning, lynch-mobbing racism is stretching the whole thing to a pretty offensive level. Please stop.

They'll probably just call it the 'playstation four'/'PS4', just like they call it the 'playstation three'/'PS3' now. It makes numerical sense, and since you've mentioned it already, i don't recall anyone flipping out over FFIV or FFIX either, lol. nine is also an unlucky number in Japan.

@Stuffo: Regarding the lay-offs, companies pick up people to replace non-essential ones that have been with 'em for too long and cost too much to employ (via raises, bonuses, benefits/retirement fund contributions, etc). Unfortunately, it's a pretty common strategy in the workplace to keep costs as low as possible, i'm sure you're familiar with it having worked retail and all.

you'd think they would have anticipated people preordering big numbers of a special edition game this highly anticipated just to jack up the prices and sell them on eBay. why was there not a limit in advance so that a wider range of fans would be able to get a copy? 200 is crazy! :/

@goldgin: You're not quoting statistics because you have none to quote. There is no hard research into this kind of thing, and therein lies the problem. You're sitting there and using your own anecdotal evidence to try and say that female protagonists don't work based solely on their gender without looking at past examples (I did mention FFVI, one of the most beloved FF games, didn't I?) and considering that there could be other variables beyond the gender of the protagonist that could be the reason why people think Lightning sucks.

And straight from the page you told me to look at, the second definition: "Attitudes, conditions, or behaviors that promote stereotyping of social roles based on gender." Seems to describe what you're doing here in this thread to a T.

I'm not going to continue derailing this comment thread any further. If you have anything else to say to me personally, you're more than welcome to use the Contact Form to get in touch. However, you might want to take a good, hard look at the things you've said here and try to consider them from an outsider's viewpoint. Perhaps that will help you to see your words as I have, and see why someone may consider you to be a sexist when you say (and insinuate) such things. :/

@goldgin: You might not be able to imagine it, and you might not like it, but perhaps if the character had been written better you might have enjoyed it and wouldn't be blaming your experience on the gender of the protagonist. There's also a good chance that, even had the protagonist been male, you still wouldn't have liked the game. The problem is that we don't know (and probably never will), and thus it's not fair to jump to conclusions like that based on the gender of the character alone, without taking into account other variables. Whether you believe it or not, you are being sexist when you do that.

@goldgin: Terra was the focus of FFVI, and she did just fine as the protagonist. Knock it off with the sexist crap, will you? It's not the gender of the character that counts, it's how they're written. :/

People do strange or seemingly-irrational things during the grieving process. It's okay, it's how they're trying to deal with it, and no one's being forced to participate. It's not anything self-destructive, and if their goals are met (getting parents and kids to communicate more when it comes to violent video games), so much the better. The 'but such-and-such is worse!' arguments only go so far when you're that close to the epicenter of a horrible tragedy; just let them work things out on their own. It's no skin off your noses, and things in CT will go back to normal in their own time.

@KenB: actually, I would disagree with you regarding 'north american humor' if we're only going by comedy series-es that make it across the pond from either side (i can't speak for shows that don't make it over here any more than you can for ones that don't make it over there, I'm sure). it's not that either side can't get the joke(s) involved, it's that they might take a bit more time to sink in or just come off too flat to really be as amusing as they could perhaps be to someone who had grown up in that particular culture at times, especially when it comes to extreme examples of our culture's humor like South Park and Family Guy. What about comedy shows that have had iterations on both sides, like The Office and Whose Line is it Anyway? Whose Line in particular, I love love love both iterations and was ecstatic to see Colin and Ryan in action again, but watching both one after the other you can really see the differences in the players'/comedians' performances (and the games chosen, and the comedic choices made) due to the differences in host and audience.

Mind you, I'm not commenting on the review at hand at all; I'm sorry for going so far off on a tangent but I was honestly shocked to see someone make that particular statement. Greg is as qualified to say he's a fan of Family Guy as I am to say I'm a fan of Doc Martin and Top Gear, there's no reason for someone from one culture to not understand or 'get' a given joke so long as we keep open minds and allow ourselves to see the humor (even when it comes to the absurd eight-minute sessions of Peter holding his knee and going 'ow! sss' over and over, haha), but for someone to dismiss the idea that 'American humor' exists would be like for me to dismiss the idea that 'British humor' exists. They're both very real things.

already got mine a while back — picked up some great games and UMD movies for it on the cheap, too, because GameStop was starting to liquidate all their used stock, lol. you can get just about anything you want for it for low prices on Amazon... it's a great buy if you're still not quite sold on the Vita :3

@get2sammyb: Ni no Kuni would've done it (and honestly i'd been hoping for it) but they decided to release it for PS3 instead. I was definitely sad when they made that announcement. The only other system-selling game i can think of off the top of my head atm would be a Vita-only Suikoden title. Otherwise, my PSP works just fine, y'know?

@Savino: regarding 'then' vs. 'than' — for 'thEn', think 'timE' ('i'll go to the store then'). for 'thAn', think 'compArison' ('this store is better than the other one'). Don't worry, you had it right the first time :3

@get2sammyb: I played the Wii version, and I felt about the same as you. I wound up shutting it off about 15 or so hours in and didn't go back to it at all until about six or eight months later when I got really, really sick and had nothing else to do but sit around and play video games. I had thought it would have been harder to get back into after all that time, but it was actually easy to pick back up and continue zooming right along, and I powered straight through it to the end of the game. Okami is damn good, and if you've never played it before, I'm sure it'll be worth every penny for you to pick up this version of it even if you can't play it all in one stretch.

@hydeks: You're complaining about such an amazing game being $15? Really? I remember paying close to $40 for my copy of it. You seriously cannot go wrong paying that price for this game.

@Epic: Not only were there two different reviewers involved, but there's two different consoles in the mix as well. If we could keep the comments here focused on this review, we'd appreciate it. Thanks in advance!

Friend of mine barely made the cut, apparently — she was talking about this just today, in fact. Turns out another friend was handed her pink slip... the good news is that if the Twitter #PopCap buzz is any solid indication re: how many companies are hiring atm, they should all be able to find work again quickly.

@get2sammyb: it does if it only works the one way around; if i were a PS3 and Vita owner i'd hate to only find out after-the-fact that I had to purchase a given game via my PS3 instead of the Vita for whatever reason. the article doesn't really spell out if it works both ways.

violence is violence is violence. there may be nothing about it that Kratos enjoys, but there's certainly something about it that the people purchasing his games enjoy. they're gonna hafta pull back from more than just violence against women if they want to really make any kind of difference in that respect.

@Kayoss, Tydo, etc. — actually we figured it out back on the day this was posted, the clock seems to be set to match the computer viewing the website (or at least it was, idk if they've fixed it or not lol). it's so odd :3

@Kayoss: actually, rjejr seems to be correct — if you notice, that countdown clock is set for 6pm Eastern time when it should be set for 6pm Pacific (e.g. it's 12:25pm now in Eastern, it should say 26d 8h 34m at this point but what i'm seeing is 26d 5h 34m)... or is the countdown for something three hours earlier than the time they've got listed below it?

@LittleBigVita: it's not about 'fairness', it's just the way things are. if it hadn't been NA's release date first, it'd'a been EU's, and who knows — for all we know it could get pushed back anyway. :3

@LittleBigVita: Your comment makes no sense — MadchesterManc said in their third sentence that they'd clocked 50 hours with Skyrim already. Please be nice to other people; you never know when you could be the one in the wrong.

@Mayoman95: I'm afraid I don't understand how 'loyalty' applies to this review...? We encourage all our users to read as many reviews as possible — not just our own — before making the choice whether to purchase a game or not. :3

@hughmel: It's one thing to be a normal user participating in a 'philosophical' discussion, it's another to be the co-founder of Kreeda Games and attempting to help a buddy out by talking fast and posting YouTube videos with an obvious slant. Please chill out.

I'm still content to wait. i haven't found any bundles that aren't ridiculously priced, and i'm jonesing for some PSOne Classics (which it won't play at the outset anyway). I may actually wind up picking up a PSP; i still haven't quite decided :3